Pepper Appreciation Post: Peppers, Peppers, and More Peppers!

Ever have a food obsession sneak up on you? This is the case with peppers and me. I’ve had a life-long love affair with certain foods….

chocolate

coffee (don’t try telling me it’s not a food, I will not listen)

tea (see above)

coconut

seafood – specifically shrimp, cod, and catfish

eggs

onion rings

sweet potatoes

cream cheese

But peppers are one of those foods that came looking for me. This particular all-encompassing fascination with all things peppers actually just came about in the last two years. I always found them to be beautiful, tasty, and very serviceable – but the appreciation never hit full tilt fanaticism until recently.

And yet, here I am, currently unable to get enough of them. It’s one of those situations where I have to reign myself in or I’ll put them in everything. They simply take whatever dish they’re in and kick it up notches.

Take tossed salads, for example. I buy those colorful little bags of sweet mini peppers (organic) and chop them up with the rest of my salad ingredients. They add more flavor and crunch than you can imagine. They also perk up potato salads, soups, scrambled eggs, and meatloaves. Stuff them with cream cheese or any cheese combination and they become show offs.

Love it when that happens.

Next time you’re in your produce section, find the little bag of mini sweet peppers or grab a couple of chili peppers or jalapenos and experiment with them. They add a lot of kick and excitement to so many dishes. Try roasting them before using them in recipes, too, for a real knock out experience.